Potential Seabed Gas Pipeline Projects to Diversify Supplies

The possibility of building a 700-km long gas pipeline under the Black Sea which will link Georgia with Ukraine – as well as with Europe – and will by-pass Russia seems more feasible than ever as the EU shows increasing interest in geographically diversifying its external energy supplies, experts say.

The Georgia-Ukraine-European Union (GUEU) gas pipeline project was discussed at the Georgian International Oil, Gas, Energy and Infrastructure Conference (GIOGIE) this March.
 
Giorgi Vashakmadze, who represents the GUEU, says that the project is currently at the pre-feasibility study stage, which is expected to be concluded by the end of 2006. The Pipeline Systems Engineering Ltd is overseeing the technical aspects of this process.

Vashakmadze says that the initial stage of the project envisages a shipment of only Azeri gas through the GUEU pipeline.
 
“Georgia is a country from where a new branch of the East-West energy corridor – GUEU – will be developed to link the Caspian area with Ukraine and Eastern Europe, that’s why we say that GUEU starts in Georgia. Pipeline will be laid in the [Black] Sea bed and will extend towards Crimea [Ukraine]. One of the options will be to link GUEU with Shah-Deniz [Baku-Tbilisi-Erzrum] pipeline somewhere on the Georgian territory,” Vashakmadze told Civil Georgia.

The initial stage of the project will cost at least USD 2 billion and will take at least five years.
 
“An international team, staffed by specialists of the pipeline-related engineering technologies, scrutinized all technical solutions of the idea… also, specialist who worked on the Blue Stream pipeline [crossing the Black Sea and linking Russia with Turkey] technologies joined the team,” he added.
 
Vashakmadze said that transportation of Kazakh and Turkmen gas is planned during subsequent stages of the project, but this will require a new Trans-Caspian gas pipeline.
 
Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Kasymzhomart Tokayev told RIA Novosti news agency on April 22 that considerations are currently underway in Kazakhstan about the possibility of joining a Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, which will enable the transit of Central Asian gas to the west, bypassing Russia.
 
“Construction of a Trans-Caspian gas pipeline is now under consideration, including in the European Union, which has recently developed a document – the Green Paper [European Strategy for Sustainable, Competitive and Secure Energy]. Kazakhstan is currently only studying this issue, as the [document] contains a number of significant geopolitical elements. However, actually, it is better for us if there are many possibilities for the export of our energy resources,” Kazakh Foreign Minister Kasymzhomart Tokayev said.
 
Azerbaijan and Georgia are also backing the project. Azerbaijani Industry and Energy Minister Natik Aliyev said that transit of hydrocarbons from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan via Azerbaijan “is extremely profitable for us.”
 
“There will be no technical problems in implementing the trans-Caspian gas pipeline project… Only the political will is needed,” the Russian daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta quoted Natik Aliyev on February 21.
 
Georgian State Minister for Economic Reform Kakha Bendukidze said in early February that the Georgian delegation at the Davos Economic Forum in January lobbied for the construction of a new gas pipeline that would connect Europe to the Caspian hydrocarbon reserves, bypassing Russia.
 
Issues related to energy security were discussed during the EU Troika delegation’s visit to Georgia on April 20-21.
 
Hans Winkler, State Secretary of the Austrian Foreign Ministry and head of the EU Troika delegation, said at a news conference on April 21 that “there is an increased interest of the European Union in the region” as the EU is trying to diversify its energy supplies and transits. He said that the EU is actively engaged in discussions over these issues with Russia, Central Asian and the South Caucasus states.
 
Giorgi Vashakmadze said that increased interest by the EU has further boosted the GUEU pipeline project.
 
But Russia opposes any Trans-Caspian pipeline until the status of the Caspian Sea is solved.
 
After a session of a Special Group on Caspian Sea – uniting five Caspian states – in Moscow on March 15, Russian Foreign Ministry’s special envoy Aleksandr Golovin said that pipeline-related issues should be solved “with the participation of all Caspian states, regardless of the route of pipe.” He also said that the pipeline might pose a serious environmental threat to the region.